HARTFORD — The Hartford Federation of Teachers has expressed concern to the superintendent over higher academic goals for students this school year, saying the goals are excessive and causing undue stress on educators.

One longtime city teacher, Patricia Delaney of Batchelder Elementary School, said the districtwide "student learning objectives" mean that the lowest-performing student will be expected to accomplish 1.75 years of growth in a single year, she told the school board Tuesday night.

Whether students meet those goals are factored into teacher evaluations, a contentious point for the union.

Federation President Andrea Johnson asked Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez to remove the "unrealistic" targets expected for students in the current school year, calling them "outrageous new demands." Teachers should be able to develop the goals for their students, she said.

Narvaez, who took over as schools chief in July, said after the meeting that she met with union leaders earlier this month to hear their concerns and had already discussed offering "maximum flexibility" to Hartford teachers, including an opportunity to revise the targets mid-year if they do not seem feasible.

"We feel teachers' judgment is important in setting the goals and we want them to be part of the conversation," Narvaez said. "That's always been my stance and will continue to be my stance as we all learn how to do this together."

Educators across Connecticut are expected to create the student learning objectives as a way of measuring achievement under the state's teacher evaluation system. In Hartford, student assessment data help determine the targets, Narvaez said.

"I want people to feel like they can learn the data and not be penalized by it," said Narvaez, who has been on a listening tour in her first several months as superintendent. "That's why I'm insisting on the flexibilities throughout the process."

The union called on city teachers to attend Tuesday's board meeting in the Batchelder auditorium. About 35 educators, most of them wearing union T-shirts, stood in the audience when Delaney, Johnson and school counselor Christine Ladd spoke about the stress of data-driven benchmarks and the expectation that the lowest-performing students make the biggest leaps over the year.

"This inverted equation is meant to close the achievement gap," Delaney said. "I understand that; I get it. I understand this principle and strive for it every day I come here to work. It is the thought that drives me to demand rigor from all my students."

But, she added, "Don't ask me to achieve a one-size-fits-all growth when you have not achieved equity at all schools" — an apparent reference to Narvaez's pledge to push for educational "equity and excellence," such as providing more resources to neighborhood schools and the city's most vulnerable students.

On Tuesday night, Narvaez announced she was forming an advisory board with Hartford teachers and principals to tap into their "on-the-ground perspectives and ideas."